#92 - Not the Same Auld Lang Syne

Tonight, around 5:45-ish, we celebrated New Year's Eve with the little guy (TLG) - complete with noisemakers and hats. The daycare had put on a little party today too, so he came home with a noisemaker already, but when the three of us started playing all together, it was a lot more fun. We made some cupcakes yesterday, and I promised if he ate all his carrots at dinner time, he could have one for dessert... and cake, coupled with hats and taking lots of photos could only mean one thing. So TLG started singing "Happy Birthday!" It was adorable and even though he only ate a few bites of cupcake, the sugar rush lasted for quite a while. I don't know why my hubby looks so intense in the photo, but anyways, Happy Birthday! I mean, Happy New Year!

#91 - Non-toxic, thank goodness

During our delicious dinner tonight (see below), both of us adults turned our back for a second... and during that time, the little guy decided to eat a crayon. This is the first time we've had to deal with him trying to eat a non-food item that I can recall (though I'm sure it won't be the last). It wasn't an entire crayon, just a large hunk off one end, and of course it was red so it looked terrible in his mouth! When he spit some out, we thought at first that he had lost a tooth and was bleeding everywhere. After a mild heart attack, we both decided that the crayons were non-toxic and he spit out some of it. So we think he'll be OK. But we need to remember to either put everything out of reach at dinner time, or keep a better watch on him!

#90 - Adventures in Salad

Tonight, for dinner, we made Chinese chicken salad using a bunch of new products... the most exciting of which were the pre-made dressing seasoning mix that was a Christmas gift (thanks, AW & UK!) and the pre-cooked and sliced chicken breasts I bought at Costco yesterday. We marinated the chicken anyway according the the directions, and the final product was delicious! The dressing was great and I'm glad that there were a few packets in the box so we can enjoy this meal again later. Two notes to self about the recipe, though: 1) it makes enough for an army so cutting it in 1/2 would work fine, and 2) don't bother with the saifun noodles, they don't add anything and actually make it harder to eat the salad.

#89 - Saying Goodbye, Why Is It Sad?

Yesterday, I spent a little time making a good-bye card for a very good friend who's moving across the country with her family. This isn't new, except that it made me so darn sad to do it! I don't remember ever being so upset when making gifts for friends/family. This particular friend is one of my oldest friends, and one I'm lucky to have... and I'm excited for her and her family, but upset with myself for not making more of an effort to spend time with them these past few years. Life's funny isn't it, you take things for granted and then all of a sudden things aren't the same anymore. I felt very similar when my sister moved away earlier this year. *big sigh* Anyway, last night, we went to their going away party and it was so nice to see them before they packed up and left town. My wonderful hubby took TLG home around 9:00 but I stayed until almost 11:00 myself, just talking and giggling about nothing. The photo is TLG playing with my friend's sons' toys (and loving every minute of it).

NOTE: The title of this post is stolen from the first line of a song in the Muppets Take Manhattan movie. At least that helps me feel better.

#88 - Funny Face

I've watched a lot of musicals in my 29 years, but I'd never seen "Funny Face" until tonight. Since it was mentioned in one of my favorite TV shows (Gilmore Girls), I've wanted to check it out... so tonight, I did. This film, released in 1957, featured Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn in the odd pairing as people who fall in love in Paris. I'd like to comment now on the strangeness of this pairing. Anyone who's met my wonderful husband knows I have no bias against a younger woman with an older man... but according to IMDB, Mr. Astaire was born in May 1899, making him approximately 56 during the filming of "Funny Face." Ms. Hepburn was born in May 1929, making her about 27. Didn't anyone think that was odd? Though I ultimately liked the film, which featured the music of George & Ira Gershwin, I saw no romantic chemistry between the stars. This reminded me of "Easter Parade," released in 1948, where Mr. Astaire was about 47 years old, and Judy Garland (who was about 26). Come on, Hollywood, what were you thinking? These pairings were about as believable as Harrison Ford (age 56) and Anne Heche (age 29) in "Six Days Seven Nights," released in 1998... in my opinion, one of the worst pairings in movie history.

But I digress. "Funny Face" was a good movie despite the age difference. I always love to see Fred Astaire in his dancing prime, and it was nice to hear Audrey Hepburn's real singing voice (since she was over-dubbed in "My Fair Lady"). I knew a few of the songs already, being Gershwin, so that was a treat.

#87 - Scene It? Disney

I love board games, and I'm usually quite good at trivia games involving entertainment. Scene It? the regular movie editions are among my favorite newer board games, and we play it often (though not as often as we did before we became parents). My sister gave me the new Disney 2nd edition Scene It? for Christmas, so tonight, we tried it out. And I was not good. OK, I beat my wonderful hubby two games in a row... but this is a man who's never seen "Little Mermaid" or "Toy Story" or even many of the older classics. I need a whole lot of Disney brushing-up before I'd be ready to play against anybody who's a Disney fan, that's for sure. Perhaps a visit to Disneyland is in order! Yay!

#86 - Christmas New Thing

TUESDAY, December 25
Most of our Christmas traditions were intact today, including opening gifts with family, having a delicious brunch together, and taking naps in the afternoon. It's hard to mess with these traditions to do anything new! But in the middle of the fun, our little family returned home from out-of-town, and by the time dinner rolled around, we were too pooped to pop! So instead of fixing the traditional family meal, we had hamburgers for Christmas dinner! I'll admit, I missed having ham, potato casserole, bing cherry jello salad, etc. with my family for the big Christmas meal... but since it was just the three of us (one of whom doesn't eat many of those types of "big boy foods" yet), we went with something easier to fix. I didn't mean to do new things involving food two days in a row, but our traditions are near and dear to me, and you can't complain about that.